Virtual Events
6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval
8-8:55AM Tai Chi
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop
10-10:45AM TriceraTOTS
6-7PM Know Your Housing Rights – Warranty of Habitability
Real World Events
8AM-2PM COVID Vaccine Clinic @ Golden Heights Park (map)
Vaccines are free and no ID is required.
9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library
10AM Kona Ice @ Shelton Elementary (map)
Stop by Shelton for a Kona Ice. 20% of proceeds will support the school.
Live Music
PM Jon E. Boothe & The NightWatch @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage – outdoor patio)
6PM Gregg Green @ Miners Saloon
6:30PM Open Jam/Mic at Over Yonder Brewing
Golden History Moment
111 Years Ago
The August 4, 1910 Colorado Transcript was celebrating the fact that Golden had found a new source of water. “Warren creek is a small stream emptying into Soda creek in Clear Creek county.” The City was able to divert water from Warren creek into our reservoir on Lookout Mountain. Shortly after laying claim to this newly-discovered water source, Idaho Springs threatened to sue us, as they had a prior claim on that source. The two Cities worked out an amicable arrangement, where Golden was able to use the water as long as Idaho Springs didn’t need it.
Until 1904, Golden took its water from Clear Creek. The water was delivered to homes & businesses around Golden through a set of municipal pipes, with the water pressure being created by a coal-powered pumping plant next to the Creek.
The Creek had become increasingly polluted over the years, with mine tailings and other industrial waste from the cities upstream, and Golden’s citizens wanted a “purer” source of water. In 1904, we were able to secure the rights to Beaver Brook, which originated twelve miles to the west in an unpopulated area. We diverted Beaver Brook into a reservoir on Lookout Mountain. From there, the water was “gravity fed” into the pipes, so we no longer needed to run pumps to create water pressure.
The city’s new gravity water works system, which has been completed recently, is of great importance to the people of the city because it insures an abundant supply of the purest mountain water for a city several times Golden’s present size, without the expense of a pumping plant. Colorado Transcript – January 5, 1905
Beaver Brook seemed like a plentiful supply of water, and we felt quite confident that we would never again need to use our old pumping plant or the nasty Clear Creek water.
As it turned out, that was wrong. There were various problems with the Beaver Brook supply over the years, including frozen pipes, dams that failed, and a general lack of water in the stream. When any of those problems arose, the old pumping plant would be fired up and everyone would suffer through a few weeks of bad water quality until Beaver Brook could be brought back online.
The summer of 1910 was hot and dry. In July of that year, the City was trying to find a way to use Tucker Gulch as a water source. The Gulch didn’t actually have water running in it, but the soil felt damp, so they thought they might be able to capture the “underflow.” By August they had turned their attention to Warren Creek, and by the end of August they had found a way to divert and use that water without being sued.
Golden continued to use Beaver Brook water, along with many other small acquisitions, until we constructed the Guanella Reservoir, near Empire Colorado (map), in 2003.
Many thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and many thanks to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
